Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Disregard My Entire 11/5 Post

So happy things worked out for you, Michael.

Two posts ago, I wrote about how great fantasy was -- in some ways better than football itself -- because we foolishly think we can control it.

Then I go into Monday Night Football up 46 points with Ryan Torain going (or so I thought) against Michael Vick, only to find out that Torain secretly wasn't playing, and that even though no quarterback had ever scored 46 points in our league before, Michael Vick scored 51."I've had some great games in my day," Vick said. "But I don't think I've had one quite like this."
If you don't play or care about fantasy football, gloss over the italicized section -- it doesn't matter. It was, as Chad put it, "the most crushing fantasy loss I've ever seen". And from Robby: "I told Mom the chances of you losing were 1 in 100,000. I mean it." And as I sat in the hotel lobby (I'm in LA for work) sulking over six-layer chocolate cake, it became clear that even if there had been something I could do to prevent it, the level of pain I was feeling meant there was something very, very wrong with my approach.

Unfairness happens. Rain pours down on weddings, lead singers leave their bands, and quarterbacks score 51 points when you're up by 46. So what do we do? Do we change the subject and say, "Whatever, at least my six-layer cake is delicious"? That's not fooling anyone. Do we go for a walk along the Santa Monica pier? Sure, and what will we think about the whole time we're on the Santa Monica pier? There's really only one, simple way to prevent tonight from ever happening again.
Stop caring so much.

I need to learn to care less. I can still invest the time, I just won't invest the emotion. As Kate Hudson said in Almost Famous, "If you don't take it seriously, you never get hurt."

Boise St. (-30.5) vs. Fresno St. (Fri, 9:30 ET). TCU almost lost last week, and Boise smells blood.Iowa (+3) vs. Ohio St. (Sat, 3:30 ET). Iowa caucuses their way to an upset home win.

Jets (-7) vs. Texans (Sun, 1:00 ET). I hope now we'll never again have to hear Tom Jackson say "Knock it Down!" on a hail-mary pass, because in the real world, catching it is your best bet. Anyway, count it another pass pattern Houston doesn't know how to stop.

Bills (+5.5) @ Bengals (Sun, 1:00 ET). Red-hot Bills make it two in a row.